Estella: Makeup and Face Charts

Pip describes Estella as 'beautiful' and 'elegant', and in the victorian era, the beauty ideal was very natural and minimalistic. In the Victorian Era the heavy and obvious use of cosmetics was seen to be immoral and it was thought that only actresses and prostitutes would wear it. It was described my some as 'the tools of the evil'. It was a period of a very strict moral code and modesty. The upper class women would still wear make-up though, they would just try and make it look as natural as possible, only using neutral tones. The Victorian women wanted a achieve a fragile, feminine and elegant look, this was thought to be the ideal beauty.

A pale complexion symbolised nobility, as it had done for many years prior to this. This is because if a woman had a pale complexion it showed that she was wealthy enough to not have to work outside with all the poorer people, as this work would normally be outside in the sun which would result in a tan. Women would use powder to eliminate shine from the face. In the Elizabethan era very toxic ingredients were used in the cosmetics which gave them that very pale skin and, although these mixtures were still around, it was becoming more popular to use the safer option of Zinc Oxide, a white mineral powder, to achieve the same pale complexion. Women would also try and avoid the sun light to stay as naturally pale as possible, so they would always be under parasols when outside. Some women would even drink vinegar to help them achieve the desired look. As well as having a pale complexion, it was also popular to have a translucent complexion, so some women would draw on very faint blue lines on there skin to make it look like their veins were showing through. Some women would even emphasise their dark circles to give them an almost sickly look.

Queen Victoria is the perfect example of a victorian beauty ideal.
http://archive.avenuecalgary.com/files/imagecache/art
icle-img-400w/articles/queen-victoria-1920x1440-35.jpg

Even though the use of makeup was frowned upon in the upper and middle classes, the women did still wear it, but just very sparingly. They would wear neutral and light shades of eyeshadows, made from lead and antimony sulphide. The women would wear a soft rosy pink on their cheeks, sometimes made from beet juice or by simply pinching their cheeks, and a light pink colour on their lips, made from mercuric sulphide. All of these products would have been applied very lightly and carefully to make them as natural looking as possible. As the Victorian women were a fan of the natural look, the women kept their eyebrows looking untamed and bushy, however the women who did wear the more obvious makeup would pluck their eyebrows or draw them on.

Keeping all of the above in mind, I have come up with three face charts to show my ideas for my Estella makeup. I wanted to keep the makeup look very natural and accurate to the era, therefore there isn't much variation between the looks. 

Design 1
I wanted to keep the skin very fair and with a rosy pink blush on her cheeks. I didn't want to use any product on the eyes, as I wanted it to be very young and fresh. I wanted her lips to be a soft red, as if she had pinched them and they had gone a natural red colour. I really like how simple this look is, however I think that, because my model has blonde hair, her eyes may not have enough definition around them. 

Design 2
This design keeps very accurate to the victorian era, with regards to the pale skin, rosy pink cheeks and rosy pink lips; however I wanted to give it a very subtle modern twist by adding the same rosy pink colour to the eyes. I wanted to add some definition to the eyes and thought it would look pretty, girly and feminine to continue the pink theme onto her eyes. However, I don't think that this would work for a film version, as I would want the makeup to look more accurate to the victorian era. 

Design 3 (Chosen Design)
For this look, I kept the skin very fair and added a rosy pink blush, focused just on the apples of the cheeks. I wanted to lips to be a similar colour to the cheeks, so I chose a rosy pink lip colour. I then wanted to add some subtle definition to the eyes to make them stand out a bit more; I therefore added a touch of light brown eye shadow on the lid and into the crease. I didn't want to add any product to the eyes, as I wanted them to look as natural as possible. I think that this look is the most historically accurate and I will therefore use this design in my final Estella look. 

Resources:
http://www.thebeautybiz.com/87/article/history/beauty-through-ages-victorians
http://www.dailymakeover.com/trends/makeup/eyebrows-history/

Estella: Further Hair Practise

Step by step:

1. Draw a line with the tail comb from the front of the ear to the front of the other ear and this is your front section. 

2. Put in a middle parting using your tail comb in the front section and then clip the two front sections out of the way for now, using hair clips.

3. Take another section, about an inch in depth, following the straight line of the front section, put a middle parting in it and then clip both sections up. 

4. Take a section in a semi-cirlcle shape from behind the front sections and put it in a ponytail with an elastic. This sections starts from about 3 inches up on each side.

5. Split the ponytail into four and loop each section under to make a bun shape.

6. Curl the rest of the hair in small sections to make very defined curls. 

7. The big section of curled hair needs to be split into four, roughly equal, sections, so keep this in mind when you are taking each section.
8. Take the first section, split it roughly in half and twist both sides upwards from the root.
9. Secure both sides together and to the head, just under the bun with hair pins, making sure the sides are even.
10. Take another section below this, twist both halves and pin them in the middle of the head with hair pins. Make sure that this section seamlessly joins with the section above and that all the body is running down the centre of the back of the head and that the sides are flat.
11. Repeat these steps with the section below.
12. With the bottom section, so the same steps, but only pin up the sides of the section and leave the middle part hanging down to give the look some length.
13. Curl the small section behind the front sections with your curling wand.
14. Twist each of these curls back into the bun to hide the obvious bun shape.

15. Curl the two from sections with your curling wand, making sure to curl them in small sections. Curl some of them forwards and some back to give add more texture.

 16. Split the two halves into three sections and twist each section backwards towards the bun. On each side the curls need to be twisting away from the centre.
17. Secure these twists into the bun with some hair pins, making sure that some of the end curls are still loose.

I experimented with pinning some fake flowers into the back of the hair and I thought it looked really pretty and girly, however below I show a style which I much prefer.

18. I secured some blue fabric roses onto some hair pins with some thread and pinned them along the front of the hair, where the twists had been pinned into the bun. 

I am so excited by this hairstyle! I think it came out really well and accurate to the era. I really like how full and curly the back of the hair look and how the sides are swept back, but still have some fun twists, adding more detail and interest. I love how the flowers look almost like a head back and I think they compliment the shape of the hairstyle perfectly. To improve the look, I could add some serum into the curls at the end to make some of them look less frizzing and more defined. I am curious to see what this hairstyle looks like on my model, as she has thinner and silkier hair, but I will try and work around any problems as I really want to use this look for my final Estella look.

Hair Practise on Estella Model

Practise 1

I decided to first practise the hairstyle I had done on my practice head as I was happy with how it turned out. I didn't want there to be a quiff at the front of the hair as I wanted to experiment with curling the fringe, so I left that section clear. I then followed the instructions that I had done before, however it turned out very different. I think it turned out so different because I placed the top bun higher and it wasn't being covered by the quiff, which made it look out of place and 'stuck on'. I found that the texture of this model, Anna's, hair was a lot more silky and that her hair was a lot thinner, meaning that it didn't have the same fullness as my practice head. I found that, because my model's hair wasn't as thick, I had to back comb some of the loops which gave them a messy look.  I got confused with which loops to loop where, and looking back at my previous attempt, I didn't loop them correctly. Another major difference with the two head types is that my model's hair is darker at the top and lighter at the bottom; this means that parts that bended well on my practice head, didn't look as neat on my model, for example the loops have more colours in them. I could continue to practice this hairstyle on my model, however I think that a design with more curls and body would suit this hair type more. 

Practise 2
Step by step:

1. Brush the hair back and create a centre parting with the tail comb.

2. Draw a line with the tail comb from ear to ear and clip those front two sections out of the way for the moment. 

3. Take a U shaped section behind the front section, as shown below, and secure this with a hair elastic in a high ponytail.

4. Curl the hair in the ponytail in four sections.

5. Twist each curl from the pony tail around the bunch to make a pretty bun. Don't make this a perfect 'ballet bun', but just make it look full and curly.

6. Curl the lower part of the hair in small sections, keeping the tong facing upwards, so that the wand can be pulled out to make ringlets.

7. Pin up some of the curls to the ponytail to add decoration and fullness. Make sure the ends still look curling. Do this to about half of the lower section.

8. Take some curls up from the bottom to make the curls all fall in a smooth transition, as shown below.

9. I split the front two sections into three and curled them horizontally and trying to keep them as close to the root as possible. I curled both halves outwards.
10. I secured each curl with hair pins.

I am happier with this hairstyle than the one above, however I do not like the front section. I had looked at sketches of late victorian hair where they had curled their fringe and so I was trying to recreate that, however I don't think I made the curls tight enough and I think the sections I used were too big. I also don't think that, if they did this hairstyle, their hair would have been as long at the front as my model as it was most popular amongst those with short fringes. I will therefore look into a different style for the front of the hair. I am a lot happier, however, with the back of the hair. I think the curls look really pretty and feminine and I like how the different tones in my hair add a more interesting detail to the look. I think the sides of the hairstyle could be more interesting or neater. I may experiment with using hair extensions in my model's hair so that she has more body and volume in her hair as I think it would help to make the look more complete and more accurate to the era. 

My Final Miss Havisham Practise

This was the last time I was going to be able to practice on my model before the assessment so I timed myself and set everything out as if it were my really assessment. 

Makeup

I am really happy with how the makeup turned out and I think it is shown in my face chart accurately, with the colouring and positioning of the products. I put more grey into the contour than I have done before and I really liked how much more intense and sculpting it was. In the assessment, I need to be really careful when blending out the edges of the flour mixture because when it isn't blended properly, it doesn't look as realistic. I pulled apart and picked at the flour once it had dried and I really like how uneven and flakey it looks. To improve, I will blend the edges of the red supra colour around the lips more, so that it looks like sore, irritated skin and not that she is wearing lipstick but has gone over the lines! I am happy with the colouring of the wart, however I think that if I use another colour that is slightly darker than the purple/brown colour, it will add more depth. I will put a thinner layer of flour onto the lips as I think that because it was so thick, the chunks just fell off the lips, especially the upper lip, leaving just the red supra colour underneath. 

Hair
I showed my design for the hair to my teacher and she suggested putting the hair into a higher bun so that it is seen over the veil, instead of it all being hidden. I think that the bun looks too neat in the two images below, so in my assessment I will pull some hair out and loosen it up a bit to give a more worn look. I was concerned that the underneath of the wig, near the neck, would look obviously fake; however she showed me how to properly secure the wig and wig cap onto the hair with hair pins and grips, by piercing the edge of the wig with a hair grip and then looping it under. She also showed me that to make it look more natural, I could leave hair around the neck out and colour them with white supra colour, as this would give a more natural looking hair line. It was very popular in the victorian era to plait the hair and then put it into a bun, so this is what I will be doing in my assessment. I sprayed the hair with dry shampoo, not to add colour, but to give the  hair a dusty effect.

Wart Continuity

I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to make the wart look exactly the same in the second assessment, as I make it from scratch with liquid latex and tissue paper. However in this practice I tried gently pulling the wart off her skin and seeing if it kept its shape, and it did! I will therefore make the wart in my first assessment and colour it with supra colour and then peel it off at the end and keep it safe so that I can use it in my continuity assessment. 

Step by Step of Miss Havisham Look

Equipment:
Make-up
-Foundation palette
-Contour palette
-Supra colour palette
-Loose translucent powder
-Duo lash glue
-Liquid latex
-White skin base
-Cape
-Flour and water
-Make-up wipes
-Bowl x2
-Buffing brush
-Contour brush
-Stippling brush
-Powder brush
-Spatular
-Hair clips
-Paint brush
-Small flat brush x2
-Small angled brush
-Disposable mascara wand

Hair
-Dry shampoo
-Hair pins
-Hair elastics
-Wig
-Wig cap
-Hair grips

Styling
-Wedding dress
-Necklace
-Veil

Step by step:
1. I applied a mixture of the white skin base and foundation colours Alabaster, FS38 and G177, to make her skin look slightly more pale than it was naturally. I did this with a Real Techniques bussing brush to buff it into the skin, taking it down to the neck. 
2. To achieve the dark circles, I took some purple from the supra colour palette on a small angled brush on her eyelids and on the inner half of her eye bags. I blended the colour in with my finger.
3. I then made a brown colour and mixed it in with some green and added it to the inner corner and a tiny bit in the middle of the eye bag with the same small angled brush. I blended the colour in with my finger.
4. I added a tiny bit of yellow on the outer half of the eye bags and on the inner corner with my finger.

5. I then added some red supra colour along her lash line with a small flat brush.

6. I powdered all around the eyes to make it look more skin-like and matte.

7. I then powdered the rest of the face and neck with a powder brush and translucent powder. 

8. I mixed some flour and water together in a bowl to a thin consistency. 

9. Using a spatula, I smoothed the mixture onto the areas where I wanted dry skin. I made sure that I blended out the edges to make it look more seamless and natural. 

10. I applied some liquid latex with a paint brush to the area I wanted the wart to be and then I added a very small amount of scrunched up tissue on top and secured the tissue by dabbing more liquid latex on top. Through out the makeup look, I kept going back to the wart and adding more latex to give it the height and texture I wanted.

11. I dabbed some red supra colour onto the lips and just outside the lip line to give a sore effect.

12. I then added some flour mixture on top, making sure that the edges were very smooth and blended.

13. Using my contour brush, I took some of the grey toned bronzer in my contour palette and contoured under the cheek bones, on the temples and under the chin. 

14. To emphasise the contour I went over it with some grey eyeshadow and the same brush.

15. I mixed some yellow and white supra colour together to make an off white colour. I then brushed this through the eyebrows with a disposable mascara wand. 

  

16. Using a stippling brush, I lightly dabbed some red supra colour on top of some of the dry patches around the face. 

17. Using a small flat brush, I added some red supra colour around the nostrils to make them looks sore. 

18. I added some duo lash glue to two patches on the bottom lip and let them dry. 

19. After the glue was dry I picked at some side of the glue, until I had made a cut effect, with one side lifted up.

20. Using a small flat brush, I put some red supra colour underneath the flaps to make them look like they were bleeding.

21. I next took the cape off and used the same mixture of white skin base and foundations to buff into the chest and any areas I thought would be shown in the final image. I used a buffing brush to do this.

22. I then used a big powder brush and some translucent powder to powder all over the chest, neck and shoulders.

23. I contoured the model's collar bones with some grey eye shadow and the contour brush.

24. I dabbed some red supra colour onto the two patches that I wanted there to be dry skin. I did this with my fingers.

25. I then added some flour mixture over the top with a spatular, making sure that the edges were blended. 

26. I used a small flat brush to add some red supra colour on the skin around the wart to make it look sore.

27. Then I added some purple/brown on the edges of the wart to add some dimension and to make it a realistic colour. 

28. I put on the wig cap to prep the hair for the wig. I made sure that all the hairs round the edges were tucked away. 

(Tip: Use some hair pins to secure the wig cap to the hair and make sure it is as close to the natural hair line as possible. Also make sure to keep the ears outside the wig cap.)

29. I then lined the wig up at the front of the head, asked my model to hold the front of the wig, and then pulled it to the back to cover the whole head. 

(Tip: Use some hair grips to secure the wig to the hair and wig cap by looping the grip under.)

30. Make sure the wig is in a rough centre parting and section off the two side sections and bring them forwards.

31. Take the rest of the hair up into a mid/high ponytail.

32. Plait the ponytail loosely and then twist it up into a bun. 

33. Pull some of the hairs out to give it a more messy look.

34. Use white supra colour on a disposable mascara wand to colour any hair that is showing around her neck.

35. Position the veil around the head and under the bun.

 Final Look

 

Close-ups of the Look 

 

Final Improvements:

I bought the wig that I'm using off Amazon and it was advertised as a zombie wig, therefore the top of the wig had a lot of height to it. I didn't think that this look was working very well for an early victorian hairstyle, so I sewed the inside of the wig so that it would sit flatter on the head. I am really happy with how the wig looks now and I think it is more accurate to the era. 

Another improvement would be to pick at the flour and break it up so that it looks more like flakey skin. I also felt that the duo lash glue on the lips, looking a bit like fangs, so I will make sure that the slit on the right is further over and that the other slit is closer to the middle.